Human Sexuality

J. Michael Bailey's syllabus for this quarter's Human Sexuality course includes this description of the class: "This course will focus on the science of sex. It is perhaps skewed toward controversial and unusual aspects of sexuality. I'll primarily be lecturing, but I hope to inspire discussion as well. Because sex makes some people uncomfortable, and because we'll be talking about some very controversial issues, it is important that everyone make an effort to be civil toward others and tolerant of...

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Sex researcher Virginia Johnson, part of the famed Masters and Johnson team who conducted groundbreaking work on human sexuality, has died in St. Louis at the age of 88, her son said on Thursday. Johnson suffered from various illnesses prior to her death on Wednesday at an assisted living center, Scott Johnson said. Virginia Johnson and William Masters, who died in 2001, met when she was a researcher for him at Washington University in...

Several years ago I spent the day at a family-planning clinic in one of New York's poorest neighborhoods. I sat around a Formica table with a half-dozen 16-year-old girls and listened with some amazement as they showed off their knowledge of human sexuality. They knew how long sperm lived inside the body, how many women out of 100 using a diaphragm were statistically likely to get pregnant and the medical term for the opening of the uterus. One girl pointed out all the parts...

Former Baylor women's basketball star Brittney Griner told ESPN the Magazine on Friday that coach Kim Mulkey told players not to openly discuss their sexuality because it would hurt the school's image. Griner, who was the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft by the Phoenix Mercury, recently disclosed publicly that she is gay. "It was a recruiting thing," Griner said. "The coaches thought that if it seemed like they condoned it, people wouldn't let their kids come play for...

Self-improvement has taken a decidedly lusty turn in many of the nation's video rental stores of late. Consider, for example, some of these currently available titles: "Stripping for Your Lover." "The Ultimate Kiss." "Kama Sutra: The Art of Making Love." "Totally Satisfying Any Woman Every Time." And that's only the beginning. Playboy has a series out, as does Playgirl. There are sexual self-improvement videos from Sweden and, yes, even the...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Joseph Ratzinger never hid the fact he thought the Roman Catholic papacy was too big for one man. For several days after being elected in 2005, Pope Benedict - as he chose to be called - spoke as if in shock. At his first public Mass, he asked: "I must assume this enormous task, which truly exceeds all human capacity. How can I do this?" At a meeting with fellow Germans the following day, Benedict surprised his well-wishers by likening the...

In the video-game parlors of Japan, players with 80 cents to spend can battle villains with karate chops, or they can strip the high school uniform from a teenager until she is topless. "I wasn't lucky," says the computer-generated image of a girl of about 14, as she bares herself to three boys who had just won a round of video mahjong at a Tokyo game center. When the boys lose, they get only a tantalizing flash of skin before she reappears dressed for school. The...

Supersize superstores I'm not saying retail stores today have gotten too big, but my local Home Depot has its own zip code. And the sun sets an hour earlier in the Wal-Mart Jewelry department than it does in Snack Foods. And after walking to and from the far end of the Sears parking lot recently, I also needed new shoes. But seriously, store size has become a major problem for an ever-growing senior population (which includes me). On the verge of my 60th birthday and confronting chronic foot...

Former Baylor women's basketball star Brittney Griner told ESPN the Magazine on Friday that coach Kim Mulkey told players not to openly discuss their sexuality because it would hurt the school's image. Griner, who was the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft by the Phoenix Mercury, recently disclosed publicly that she is gay. "It was a recruiting thing," Griner said. "The coaches thought that if it seemed like they condoned it, people wouldn't let their kids come play for...

Films devoted to exploring the myriad forms of human sexuality have an unusually prominent place in the 2013 Sundance program, festival director John Cooper noted as he unveiled the fest's competition slates on Wednesday. Citing titles slotted into the U.S. dramatic competition ("Afternoon Delight," "Concussion," "Kill Your Darlings," "The Lifeguard") as well as the micro-budget Next section ("It Felt Like...

There's a new class on human sexuality at Northwestern University, but it's safe to say that this one won't feature any live sex-toy demonstrations. A year has passed since school officials, amid a firestorm of embarrassing publicity, canceled another sexuality class after psychology professor J. Michael Bailey hosted an optional lecture on female arousal that concluded with a woman being penetrated by a motorized sex toy. The new class, "Sexual Subjects: Introduction...

By John M. Buchanan, Senior Minister, Fourth Presbyterian Church | June 30, 1991

Your June 11 headline, "Presbyterians reject sexuality report," does not represent the decision made by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The assembly did not adopt the report, but nevertheless decided to "request the Theology and Worship Ministry Unit to use the Report and other documents as a resource for Church-wide exploration and discussion of the significant biblical, theological and ethical issues raised in the Church around human sexuality." That is to say, the...

Human sexuality is a topic deserving of discussion in college classes. These are some of the points that should be covered: What is the true purpose of sexual expression in a society? What happens to a society when sexual expression resembles that in a rabbit warren? How are men and women degraded or honored by the current mores? What place do chastity and marital fidelity play in a healthy society? In other words, a sexuality class should be on an adult level, not a very immature and...

Presbyterians came to their convention this year angry and divided over the work of the Special Committee on Human Sexuality, whose internal discord was evident in a 200-page majority report and a 63-page minority report. The 602 voting commissioners overwhelmingly rejected all 263 pages. Instead, they adopted a 14-page treatise reaffirming the church's traditional judgments against sexual relations outside marriage and referring the human sexuality issue to a different...

J. Michael Bailey's syllabus for this quarter's Human Sexuality course includes this description of the class: "This course will focus on the science of sex. It is perhaps skewed toward controversial and unusual aspects of sexuality. I'll primarily be lecturing, but I hope to inspire discussion as well. Because sex makes some people uncomfortable, and because we'll be talking about some very controversial issues, it is important that everyone make an effort to be civil toward others and tolerant of...

Jamie Lendway and his fiance Agnes Glod had been living together for more than a year when they registered for Pre-Cana, the marriage preparation course required by the Catholic Church. But knowing that the church considers it living in sin, they wrote down separate addresses on the registration form. They were shocked to learn that they did not have to pretend, because Pre-Cana had booklets and course pages devoted entirely to Catholic couples who live together before...

On Dec. 9, 1608, poet John Milton was born in London. In 1854 Alfred, Lord Tennyson's famous poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" was published in England. In 1886 Clarence Birdseye, developer of frozen foods, was born in New York. In 1898 circus clown Emmett Kelly was born in Sedan, Kan. In 1907 Christmas seals went on sale for the first time, at the Wilmington, Del., post office; proceeds went to fight tuberculosis. In 1912 former House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill was born in...

Setting a measured tone for what is expected to be an emotional debate on Thursday, members of the nation's largest Lutheran denomination stepped to the mike Wednesday to discuss suspending the celibacy rule for ministers in same-sex relationships. As those in support of gay and lesbian clergy spoke of unity amid diversity, opponents cautioned the 1,071 voting members at the biennial national meeting of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that a sudden decision this week in Chicago...